'The political pollution of the Met is extraordinary'

by Simon Basketter

Published Tue 29 May 2012

Issue No. 2305

The hackgate scandal has often focused on the hacking of celebrities’ mobile phones and emails. But the reason that it has caused such a stir among the political class is because it exposes the corruption that runs through the British establishment.

“The political pollution of the Met is truly extraordinary,” said investigative journalist Laurie Flynn. “That’s really what the Murdoch scandal is about.

“A section of the Murdoch press has been allowed to operate as a private sector intelligence and shit gathering mechanism for very powerful people. That is a shocking state of affairs.”

He said, “There’s grass eating corruption which is petty corruption and there’s meat eating corruption which is grander corruption. There’s also beyond grand corruption some grand political corruption.

“What we have in the crisis in the Met is the extraordinary combination of all these kinds of corruption.

“This has become typified by the unbelievable interpenetration of senior members of the Met and senior elements in News International. It’s almost as if they’ve fused into one kind of social fabric.

“They were wining and dining, doing favours and giving stories and information.

“And it would appear that very senior officers in the Met had their children on work experience at that so-called newspaper The Sun.

“That then extends into a political relationship in Oxfordshire between the deeply problematic former editor of that so-called newspaper the News of the World and the current prime minister.